The Dead Plant
by MadHatterLilith
Summary: Hizashi takes care of the withered potted plant in their house, doing everything to try to make it come back despite knowing better. It's the plant Shouta likes best after all. Angsty Oneshot


Again, he waters the withered plant.

Hizashi doesn't remember what sort of plant it was anymore nor who gave it to him as a gift. Did it sprout flowers at one point? He's no longer sure; it's been too long since it had for him to know. He does know Shouta liked it though.

_"It needs a cat flower pot." He'd decided not long after Hizashi got it, deciding to put it on the window sill of their bedroom._

_"Why a cat?" Hizashi had laughed, just enjoying the feeling of being with the one he loved as they decided to sleep in that Sunday morning._

_"It's catnip." He plainly replied, looking at his boyfriend as if he were an idiot. Snatching more of the blanket as the blond stared at the plant, wondering why he got catnip of all things as a gift, Shouta quickly cocooned himself. By the time Hizashi realised why he suddenly felt so cold, Shouta was already sound asleep._

Oh, right. That's what it was. Maybe that's why the neighbor's cat likes to come over so often, why she's always so happy to be there. Or she used to be anyway. She hasn't been around in a while.

"_Shouta, she's not a stray; we can't keep feeding her like this." He warned his boyfriend shortly after they moved in together. "She'll start to think of this as her other home!"_

_"What's wrong with that?" He asked in return without the slightest hint of humor or joke in his voice or eyes. He was one hundred percent serious.__As if wanting to join in on the conversation, the little black cat Norma made the cutest little mew Hizashi had ever heard. It seriously weakened his resolve._

He used to play with the little cat, small as a kitten even when full grown, talking to her like a friend at times when he was bored and needed somebody. Most of those times, Shouta wasn't home. Other times, he did it out of habit, subject to Shouta's half hearted teasing for days after.

"_You know, Norma... Sometimes I really worry about Shouta. He doesn't eat as often as he should. And sometimes he gets hurt a lot." He admitted to the cat who, obviously, gave no response other than to swat at the toy in front of her a couple times._

_"Sometimes I wish we weren't heros. Just two normal people would be nice…" He continued. "We could get married, go wherever, do whatever. Shouta could finally catch up on his sleep! And I'd be that famous radio personality who's married to a school teacher. Wouldn't that be pretty nice?!"_

_"You want to get married?" Shouta asked from behind him, a hint of surprise in his voice. Oops; he forgot that the underground hero was home, curled up on the couch with last night's leftover take out._

The plant wasn't a wedding gift. It was such a low-key ceremony that there weren't really any gifts involved. He was pretty sure it was a housewarming gift from Nemuri, but he wasn't completely sure. Either way, it used to brighten up the room.

People always say talking to your plants helps them. So he decides to try that; he'd talk to it about the students.

_"I'm gonna have a talk with All Might about cussing in front of the kids." Hizashi finally decided as he graded their papers with a frown. "They're picking that English up better than what they learn in lessons!"_

_"At least they're learning." Shouta sighed in frustration as he looked over tests. "I'm going to make a fresh pot of coffee to deal with this."_

_"Kaminari's papers?" The blond asked with a chuckle. The irritated groan he got in reply was answer enough._

He'd talk to it about the important stuff in his many careers.

"_With Endeavor as the number one, a lot of people aren't very confident in the hero system anymore...This is going to be a tough time without public backing." Mic remarked as they watched the news._

_"Endeavor's strong enough to hold the spot for a while. Rather than that, we should focus on the villian boom as of late. Since All Might retired, there's been more unrest than ever and moe and more idiots think this is their chance to make it big." Shouta replied. "Public opinion isn't that important if you get the job done."_

_"I guess, but public support is what helps pay for the hospital bills after a near death experience." Hizashi half-heartedly joked, remembering one too many times that public support helped him when Recovery Girl couldn't. "And you can't deny feels good to have people depend on you like that; it makes the whole thing a lot easier."_

He'd tell it about his day.

_"Shoucchan, you won't believe this! I saw All Might today!" The expression on Shouta's face, that mix of disbelief and mld "why-did-I marry-this-man" regret on his face spoke volumes and made the dumb joke worth it._

_"Hizashi." He spoke after a long pause. "You see him every day; you work with him." Even Yagi, who was passing through to get some coffee couldn't help but chuckle at the married couple's odd little routine._

Maybe he'd even talk about the odd things that sometimes came to mind when he sat down with his first cup of coffee in the morning.

_"Hey, Shoucchan…" He asked in all seriousness, staring down at his half drained cup and soggy cereal with a grim expression. "If chickens ate meat and lived in the jungle, do you think they'd be good hunters?"_

Shouta_ knew better than to expect anything important this early in the morning, so most of the time he ignored him. That's why it took a bit longer than usual for Hizashi's words to register. He looked up in mild horror, eyes wide._

_"Hizashi, what the fu—"_

And he'd water it, give it sun, and do all the things he was supposed to do. Even as the leaves browned, curled, and fell, he watered it. He moved it around the windowsill as if the problem was a lack of sunlight. He would wait for it to come back to life, no matter how long it took.

_"You're lying." He strongly denied it at first. "Nemuri, why are you saying stuff like that? There's no way…"_

_But the look on her face, the grim look of the doctor who seemed to be silently apologizing by just shaking his head, and the disgusting, gnawing feeling in his gut told him that it was true._

He_ knew it was true but he still waited for Shouta to try to check himself out early. You can never keep a workaholic in a hospital bed. "We did all we could, but--" the doctor's words were monotone, just a noise in the background, as annoying as a fly by his ear._

He just kept waiting.

Even though he knew better, he watered it, talked to it, and took care of it as he waited for the leaves to turn back to a healthy green.

_He had a bad feeling about this operation. Sure, the other heroes were experienced in this sort of thing, Shouta included, but he still couldn't quiet the sickening anxiety eating away at him. "Shouta...Be careful." He reminded his husband almost beggingly._

Not_ that it helped much; Shouta, despite never wanting the recognition or admiration he deserved for his work, was a hero, even if not as selflessly noble as others like All Might. He couldn't walk away from someone in trouble, much less a teenager who was going to die for making a dumb decision. As the ceiling began to crumble and fall, Shouta, already severely injured, tried to save one more life...at the cost of his own._

As_ he carried his husband out of the destroyed building (a last ditch effort by the villian group to stop the heroes trying to arrest them), he felt himself go cold, the terrifying possibility that he was going to lose him setting in. The kid he'd been trying to save was unconscious, slung over another hero's shoulder. His head was bleeding from a scratch he got but he was alive and mostly unharmed, all thanks to a man he'd never get a chance to thank._

Hizashi knew of course that the plant was long dead. But he would still patiently on it to come back, just like he was still waiting for his husband to come home. Even if he knew at heart that it was impossible, he wasn't going to accept it.

He filled the nearly empty watering can and watered the dead plant yet again.


End file.
